VG247 » Baldurs Gate Enhanced Editionhttp://www.vg247.com
VG247.comTue, 31 Mar 2015 20:33:48 +0000en-UShourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=3.8.1Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition is now available for Androidhttp://www.vg247.com/2014/04/18/baldurs-gate-enhanced-edition-is-now-available-for-android/
http://www.vg247.com/2014/04/18/baldurs-gate-enhanced-edition-is-now-available-for-android/#commentsFri, 18 Apr 2014 16:07:49 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=465813Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition is now available for Android. It is available through the Google Play Store for both tablet and mobile. It will run you $9.99 with additional content available for purchase within the game.
]]>http://www.vg247.com/2014/04/18/baldurs-gate-enhanced-edition-is-now-available-for-android/feed/1Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition back on App Storehttp://www.vg247.com/2013/08/16/baldurs-gate-enhanced-edition-back-on-app-store/
http://www.vg247.com/2013/08/16/baldurs-gate-enhanced-edition-back-on-app-store/#commentsFri, 16 Aug 2013 00:25:21 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=398791Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition is once more for sale on the App Store, and developer Beamdog is back in action.

]]>http://www.vg247.com/2013/08/16/baldurs-gate-enhanced-edition-back-on-app-store/feed/1Baldur’s Gate lock out initiated by Atarihttp://www.vg247.com/2013/06/25/baldurs-gate-lock-out-initiated-by-atari/
http://www.vg247.com/2013/06/25/baldurs-gate-lock-out-initiated-by-atari/#commentsTue, 25 Jun 2013 22:26:12 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=382461Beamdog boss Trent Oster has confirmed that Atari is the unnamed publishing partner responsible for the withdrawal of Baldur’s Gate Enhanced Edition and shutdown of development on sequels.

“At the request of Atari legal we removed the game from sale on Beamdog and the App stores,” Oster told GameInformer.

“Atari is still selling the game through their channels. We’re trying to remedy the situation and I’m hopeful we can come to an arrangement.”

As usual with ongoing legal issues, Oster did not give any further details on what inspired Atari to shutdown Beamdog’s work.

Beamdog was working on an Android port of and patches for the first game, as well as its sequel, but has had to cease development while the problem is resolved; it has no ETA on when work will resume.

]]>http://www.vg247.com/2013/06/25/baldurs-gate-lock-out-initiated-by-atari/feed/4Baldur’s Gate 3 still possible, but dev demoralised over recent legal actionhttp://www.vg247.com/2013/06/24/baldurs-gate-3-still-possible-but-dev-demoralised-over-recent-legal-action/
http://www.vg247.com/2013/06/24/baldurs-gate-3-still-possible-but-dev-demoralised-over-recent-legal-action/#commentsMon, 24 Jun 2013 11:28:07 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=381871Baldur’s Gate 3 was one of BeamDog’s long-term goals, but thanks to recent and complex legal issues, Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition was withdrawn from sale, and its sequel was placed on indefinite hold. Despite the team’s current “legal hell”, Beamdog head Trent Oster has said a third game is still possible in a new interview.

Speaking with RPS on the matter, Oster said, “The prognosis [for resuming work on Baldur's Gate] is mixed. Best case, we can sort this out soon. Worst case, this could be in legal hell for a while. I like making games, but this contractual dispute bullshit keeps me up at night.”

On the potential development of Baldur’s Gate 3, he added, “Baldur’s Gate II: Enhanced Edition is on indefinite hold, as is the current patch. Baldur’s Gate III, we are still interested in the concept, but currently I’d say were very demoralized.”

It still isn’t clear exactly what the legal issues involve, or who the complaining party is, but all could be revealed in due course.

For now, would you like to see Baldur’s Gate 3 happen? Let us know below.

Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition has been removed from sale on Beamdog’s Store and the App Store, and in a post on its website, Beamdog boss Trent Oster said the sequel can’t be released at present.

“We recently removed Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition from sale on Beamdog and the Apple App Store. We’ve taken this step at our publishing partner’s request as we attempt to resolve a number of contractual issues,” he wrote.

“Unfortunately, until this matter is resolved, we are unable to release the latest Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition patch or Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition for Android. This also prevents the launch of Baldur’s Gate II: Enhanced Edition. I sincerely apologize to the series’ fans and promise we are working diligently to remedy the situation.”

Beamdog is unable to shed any light on what caused the dispute, or give an ETA on when it might be resolved.

“We are unable to discuss details of the complex legal matters surrounding this issue at this time. Please be aware that we are extremely unhappy with the situation and are doing our best to work past it. We have put a lot of hard work into this series, and are eager for fans to see it,” the company wrote.

“Unfortunately, we cannot offer the game for sale until all issues with our publishing partner have been resolved. We do not have a specific date for when the game will be available again.

“We have been developing Baldur’s Gate II: Enhanced Edition for some time now, but until all issues with our publishing partner are resolved we cannot officially announce or offer this game for sale. This has resulted in significant amounts of wailing and gnashing of teeth amongst the development team.”

The Android version has also been stymied.

In an accompanying FAQ, Beamdog confirmed that those who have already purchased the game will be able to download and play as normal, and that the new patch – which can’t release until the dispute is settled – includes changes to the UI and text, German language support including voice acting, subtitles and various fixes.

You can download the game via Beamdog’s online store at $20. It will eventually hit the Mac App Store as well.

Overhaul Games head Trent Oster said of the release, “The development of the Mac version of Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition has been a longer process than we had planned. We strove to create a high quality release for the Mac fans of the series and we feel proud of the current version and feel the extra development time was effort well spent.”

]]>http://www.vg247.com/2013/02/20/baldurs-gate-enhanced-edition-hits-mac-on-friday/feed/0Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition dev discusses asset creationhttp://www.vg247.com/2012/12/17/baldurs-gate-enhanced-edition-dev-discussed-asset-creation/
http://www.vg247.com/2012/12/17/baldurs-gate-enhanced-edition-dev-discussed-asset-creation/#commentsMon, 17 Dec 2012 12:06:07 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=325273Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition was coined as a straight HD port at one point, but a search around EA’s servers for the original game’s assets proved unsuccessful when the art was nowhere to be found. Overhaul Games head Trent Oster has shed light on the steps his team took to recreate BioWare’s original magic in a new interview.

Speaking with Eurogamer, Oster explained that a lack of assets let to the final game being more than a straight HD touch-up, and that initially he asked his contacts at EA and BioWare to have a root around for the material needed to get the project rolling.

He explained, “We were going to take Baldur’s Gate, we were going to take the original area artwork and we were going to re-render it out with new settings and render it to a much higher resolution and then rebuild the engine around displaying that new higher resolution.

“We went through contract details, we spent a bunch of time, money, effort on lawyers getting the agreement part-way, got to a pretty happy place, got a dump of all the assets that BioWare had, and we looked through and we couldn’t find any of the art source.”

However, when no assets could be found, Oster went to EA personally and had a look for himself, certain that the team there weren’t looking in the right places. He still didn’t have any luck though.

“I spent a couple of days over their with their system admin guys who I’m good friends with and we dug through everywhere,” he continued, “But we couldn’t find a single source asset for the area art.

“At that point we came back to Atari [D&D licence holder] and said look, the deal we proposed can’t happen: we can’t make a Baldur’s Gate HD. So right there we actually shut down and the deal wasn’t going to happen. For about three weeks, Atari and us never spoke.”

Without assets, Oster and his team decided to go one better than an HD update and just remake the whole thing from scratch. Thus, Balder’s Gate: Enhanced Edition was born. Check out the rest of the tell-all interview over at Eurogamer.

Oster also stated that the iOS build is to be delayed by a week due to a bug discovered by Apple:

Oster added that a cross-platform bug is holding up the Android edition, but that he remains hopeful it will launch before Christmas, stating, “Our current crash is cross-platform, so the fixes are for all platforms. Legacy code bites again. We’ll get Android done before Christmas. The list of supported devices might be very Nvidia skewed though.”

On the subject of the Mac edition, Oster stated that the Mac OSX certification process takes even longer, but said he will update fans as they push forward. Meanwhile the iPhone screen is supposedly too small to comfortably use the game’s interface, and Oster confirmed that the team would look at an alternative control method soon.

The team recently revealed a gameplay trailer that features rather chatty characters. Check it out here:

]]>http://www.vg247.com/2012/11/28/baldurs-gate-enhanced-edition-releasing-tonight-on-pc-other-formats-delayed/feed/1Baldur’s Gate Enhanced Edition trailer blasts voice actinghttp://www.vg247.com/2012/11/23/baldurs-gate-enhanced-edition-trailer-blasts-voice-acting/
http://www.vg247.com/2012/11/23/baldurs-gate-enhanced-edition-trailer-blasts-voice-acting/#commentsFri, 23 Nov 2012 01:06:08 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=318266Baldur’s Gate Enhanced Edition contains a lot of characters, and they talk all the time, if this trailer is anything to go by.

Spoilers: it’s probably not, because you’d ram your face through the screen and use the glass shards to pierce your eardrums after about six minutes, and that would lead to lawsuits. Hopefully we can expect a more restrained approach when you’re actually playing, as opposed to enjoying seamlessly cut trailer transitions.

The Enhanced Edition hits PC on November 28 and is expected on iPad shortly thereafter. It’s a revamped version of what is generally considered one of the greatest CRPGs of all time, and one of the titles which cemented BioWare’s reputation.

]]>http://www.vg247.com/2012/11/23/baldurs-gate-enhanced-edition-trailer-blasts-voice-acting/feed/0Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition moves up its launch datehttp://www.vg247.com/2012/11/02/baldurs-gate-enhanced-edition-moves-up-its-launch-date/
http://www.vg247.com/2012/11/02/baldurs-gate-enhanced-edition-moves-up-its-launch-date/#commentsFri, 02 Nov 2012 17:43:29 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=312829Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition is now planning to launch on November 28, two days ahead of its last scheduled release date.

Of course, two days probably isn’t the biggest difference in the world, but considering developer Overhaul’s RPG remake suffered a much more substantial delay back in September, it’s still nice to hear.

The news comes from creative director Trent Oster, who tweeted: “We are targeting November 28 for all platforms. Since we have approvals, etc, we can’t 100% control the date on iOS, Mac and Android.”

Oster went on to confirm that BG:EE will run on first generation iPads and Nexus 7s too, so it appears that most tablet owners who want to relive the classic role-player will get their chance. Eventually.

According studio boss Trent Oster: “After recently reviewing the game and then consulting with our partners, we’ve decided to ensure that Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition is the best possible product on launch. Thus, we have pushed back the release date of the game.”

Oster “something special” is being worked on for those who already pre-ordered the game as an apology for the delay.

Are you looking forward to Baldur’s Gate Enhanced Edition? Let us know all about it below.

]]>http://www.vg247.com/2012/07/30/baldurs-gate-enhanced-edition-co-op-supports-cross-platform-play/feed/5Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition will support cross-platform co-ophttp://www.vg247.com/2012/07/30/baldurs-gate-enhanced-edition-will-support-cross-platform-co-op/
http://www.vg247.com/2012/07/30/baldurs-gate-enhanced-edition-will-support-cross-platform-co-op/#commentsMon, 30 Jul 2012 01:15:55 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=280527Beamdog boss Trent Oster has confirmed that Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition will support cross-platform co-operative multiplayer. “iPad can play with Android, Mac and PC. One happy gaming family,” he said. The HD port releases on PC, Mac and iDevice in September with all new content.

]]>http://www.vg247.com/2012/07/30/baldurs-gate-enhanced-edition-will-support-cross-platform-co-op/feed/0Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition releases on Mac, iOS, PC September 18http://www.vg247.com/2012/07/26/baldurs-gate-enhanced-edition-releases-on-mac-and-ios-september-18/
http://www.vg247.com/2012/07/26/baldurs-gate-enhanced-edition-releases-on-mac-and-ios-september-18/#commentsThu, 26 Jul 2012 19:14:15 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=280035The countdown clock on the Baldur’s Gate website has ended, announcing that the Enhanced Edition will be released on September 18 for Mac and iOS.

The Android version release date is still TBD.

It will come with a new character called Neera, who is a half-elf wild mage just discovering her potential for magic. The character will be part of a new “engaging romantic adventure” in a new area which will provide up to four hours of extra gameplay to the original game.

Other new characters include Dorn Il-Khan, and Rasaad yn Bashir; while a new adventure called The Black Pits allows you to create a full party and battle through fifteen battles in a bid to escape the Underdark.

Pre-orders for Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition are being accepted on the official site for $17.99. Upon release it will run you $19.99 if you don’t pre-order.

]]>http://www.vg247.com/2012/07/26/baldurs-gate-enhanced-edition-releases-on-mac-and-ios-september-18/feed/9Baldur’s Gate website counting down to something Enhanced Edition relatedhttp://www.vg247.com/2012/07/25/baldurs-gate-website-counting-down-to-something-related-to-enhanced-edition/
http://www.vg247.com/2012/07/25/baldurs-gate-website-counting-down-to-something-related-to-enhanced-edition/#commentsWed, 25 Jul 2012 18:41:58 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=279752A countdown clock has appeared on the Baldur’s Gate website, suggesting there may be an announcement of sorts in our imminent future. The clock reaches zero tomorrow. Likely it will provide an exact release date for the Enhanced Edition of the game instead of “summer”, but we’ll just have to wait and see once it finishes counting down. Thanks, G4.
]]>http://www.vg247.com/2012/07/25/baldurs-gate-website-counting-down-to-something-related-to-enhanced-edition/feed/0New Baldur’s Gate edition to have significant premium DLChttp://www.vg247.com/2012/07/03/baldurs-gate-enhanced-edition-to-have-significant-premium-dlc/
http://www.vg247.com/2012/07/03/baldurs-gate-enhanced-edition-to-have-significant-premium-dlc/#commentsTue, 03 Jul 2012 06:18:56 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=274262There’s plenty of reason to pick up Beamdog’s re-release of BioWare classic Baldur’s Gate, and

“We’ll be doing free feature improvements and existing content improvements as we go, but we are also planning some paid DLC,” Beamdog head Trent Oster told fans on Twitter.

“We would never DLC existing content. Any DLC content we plan to sell will be all new.”

Oster emphasised that any DLC would involve new storylines and characters rather than smaller bits and pieces like equipment – specifically not “furry earrings +3″.

“The big guys have overcooked the term with badness,” he noted.

New content and updates should arrive automatically.

“Our distribution plan is sell through Beamdog and provide an updater/launcher so we can push new updates easily. No player required,” Oster added.

]]>http://www.vg247.com/2012/07/03/baldurs-gate-enhanced-edition-to-have-significant-premium-dlc/feed/0Forgotten Realms author to pen new Baldur’s Gate contenthttp://www.vg247.com/2012/04/27/forgotten-realms-author-to-pen-new-baldurs-gate-content/
http://www.vg247.com/2012/04/27/forgotten-realms-author-to-pen-new-baldurs-gate-content/#commentsThu, 26 Apr 2012 23:18:33 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=254177Dave Gross has signed on as lead writer for the new content included in Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition.

Gross has a long history with swords and sorcery, if we still call it that, having been an editor for Polyhedron Newszine and a couple of Dungeon and Dragon magazines. He’s behind a couple of the Forgotten realm novels, including Black Wolf and Lord of Stormweather, as well as Pathfinder Tales’ Prince of Wolves and Master of Devils.

Also, he seems quite funny:

“I was sitting in a coffee shop complaining about the lack of classic RPGs for the iPad when [Beamdog boss Trent Oster] appeared in a sulphurous cloud and said, ‘Have I got a job for you,’” Gross said in a press release.

Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition is an HD remake of the classic RPG for iPad, Mac and PC, expected in northern summer. It contains a whole new party member and a slab of new content.

Earlier in the week, Oster had said the downloadable, tablet-friendly Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition would not be coming to consoles – especially not the Wii U, as the company’s “previous experience with Nintendo was enough to ensure there will not be another”.

Writing in response to NintendoWorldReport, Oster said that from his perspective, WiiWare “hasn’t been a success for many developers outside of Nintendo”.

As well as the service’s notorious 40MB size limit, Oster described difficulties with demos, pricing and promotion.

“The result was large disappointment with the platform,” he said.

Oster also noted that he initially felt the Wii was a gimmick, believes “a huge number of the Wii units only ever sold one or two games” and that poor early third-party games resulted in a lack of consumer confidence in non-Nintendo Wii games.

The BioWare veteran has similar concerns about the Wii U.

“For the Wii U, I once again don’t get it. I’m having a hard time seeing how a tablet controller and console system is going to be revolutionary,” he said.

“I could be wrong, but I think the gaming world has changed irrevocably and there are now two fronts: Triple A console titles which resemble blockbuster movies and freemium/app store titles which are closer to television.

Oster said the PC is capable of addressing both fronts (and the varying quality within them), but that the Wii U doesn’t seem to cater to either of them.

“The app store/freemium model has redefined consumer pricing expectations, making consumers much less likely to invest $60 in a title without playing it first. The Triple A model focuses on delivering the experience you expect at the agreed upon price, which is going to be hard to sell conceptually with a new platform like the Wii U. I wish Nintendo the best and I hope they can hit big with a major success.”

“Our time in cert was two-fold, a lack of proper QA on our part and slow report turn around from Nintendo. We’d get a bug, fix it, wait two weeks while Nintendo tested it, get a new bug, fix it, wait two weeks. After nine months from our first submission, we passed certification,” he said.

“The end product is a better game for the extra testing Nintendo pushed on us, but we likely could have had the same results in a much shorter timeline.”

Oster also noted that Beamdog is yet to see any return on the WiiWare version of MDK 2.

]]>http://www.vg247.com/2012/04/19/beamdog-boss-expresses-disappointment-in-wiiware-doubts-wii-us-success/feed/7Baldur’s Gate Enhanced Edition to raise level cap, enforce party limithttp://www.vg247.com/2012/04/17/baldurs-gate-enhanced-edition-to-raise-level-cap-enforce-party-limit/
http://www.vg247.com/2012/04/17/baldurs-gate-enhanced-edition-to-raise-level-cap-enforce-party-limit/#commentsTue, 17 Apr 2012 02:49:24 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=251379Beamdog has let slip some more details on how its new content will be integrated into Baldur’s Gate Enhanced Edition.

“Our plan is to raise the level cap a bit in [Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition] to allow for the new content,” beamdog’s Trent Oster said on Twitter.

“We won’t be changing the game to more than six characters, the entire game would have to be re-balanced. [Baldur's Gate]‘s fun is partly the compromises,” he added.

Oster noted that Beamdog won’t make changes to the original game’s difficulty to suit modern tastes, and described the new content as “nasty“.

Beamdog expects to produce German, Spanish and French localisations and has hopes for even more translations. Interestingly, the developer is looking into a boxed version thanks to fan demand – but is shying away from consoles.

“I can’t ever see us doing an Xbox version. The controller isn’t a good fit. Have to change too much,” Oster said in response to a fan query.

The Wii U’s controller, on the other hand, seems ideal, especially as the game is already coming to other tablets – but Oster does not seem keen.,

“We don’t do Nintendo development. Our previous experience with Nintendo was enough to ensure there will not be another,” he explained.

Oster is presumbly referring to the enhanced version of BioWare’s MDK 2 which it produced for the Wii in 2011.

Writing on Twitter, Beamdog boss and former BioWare staffer Trent Oster acknowledged fan demand for a revamp of Icewind Dale.

“The topic of Icewind Dale has come up a number of times. We are interested, but first we need [Baldur's Gate Extended Edition] to succeed,” he said.

Aww yiss. Icewind Dale released in 2000 and is considered one of a small family of games from the golden era of PC RPGs. Its developer, Black Isle Studios, has strong ties to Obsidian, inXile and Troika.

One fan pointed out that Icewind Dale has a huge number of community resources which could be used with a re-release – if it was made using on the Baldur’s Gate 2: Throne of Bhaal expansion code.

“If we were to do Icewind Dale we would likely use our codebase, so all classes and kits in [Throne of Bhaal],” Oster confirmed.

Speaking of community content, Oster said mod support will be improved for Baldur’s Gate Enhanced Edition.

]]>http://www.vg247.com/2012/04/13/icewind-dale-on-the-cards-if-baldurs-gate-re-release-succeeds/feed/6Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition coming to OS-Xhttp://www.vg247.com/2012/03/29/baldurs-gate-enhanced-edition-coming-to-os-x/
http://www.vg247.com/2012/03/29/baldurs-gate-enhanced-edition-coming-to-os-x/#commentsThu, 29 Mar 2012 21:22:58 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=247652Beamdog has announced that Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition will release for OS-X as well as iOS and PC.

The game will have reasonable system requirements.

“If you can connect to the App Store, then you can play BG:EE. We will support all machine configurations,” Beamdog’s Cameron Tofer told Shack News.

Any Mac or Macbook with Snow Leopard or higher is good to go, then.

Some further details were given regarding the iPad version, too; it will have a widescreen mode, and iCloud support.

Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition is a revamped release of the 1998 RPG, with new story content, extra quests and an additional party member as well as multiplayer. It’s expected on iPad, Mac and PC in northern summer.

]]>http://www.vg247.com/2012/03/29/baldurs-gate-enhanced-edition-coming-to-os-x/feed/5Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition hitting iPad alongside PC version this summerhttp://www.vg247.com/2012/03/22/baldurs-gate-enhanced-edition-hitting-ipad-alongside-pc-version-this-summer/
http://www.vg247.com/2012/03/22/baldurs-gate-enhanced-edition-hitting-ipad-alongside-pc-version-this-summer/#commentsThu, 22 Mar 2012 20:18:46 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=245879Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition will be released on iPad this summer courtesy of Overhaul Games. It will launch alongside the PC release and include the same improvements as well as the Tales of the Sword Coast expansion pack all running on the Infinity Engine. This also includes the new story content, extra quests and a new member to the party. No exact date just yet.
]]>http://www.vg247.com/2012/03/22/baldurs-gate-enhanced-edition-hitting-ipad-alongside-pc-version-this-summer/feed/5Baldur’s Gate 3 is Beamdog’s “long term goal”http://www.vg247.com/2012/03/19/baldurs-gate-3-is-beamdogs-long-term-goal/
http://www.vg247.com/2012/03/19/baldurs-gate-3-is-beamdogs-long-term-goal/#commentsMon, 19 Mar 2012 22:36:32 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=244578Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition is just one step on the journey to a brand new Baldur’s Gate sequel.

Beamdog, which was founded by former BioWare staffer Trent Oster, has big ambitions for the classic IP.

“We have a lot of things to put in place before such a project can be launched. So currently there is no such project but that’s the one we want to do. Our thoughts have been that Enhanced Edition for BG 1 and 2 just make sense before there’s any Baldur’s Gate 3.”

Tofer said recent developments in crowd-funding could give the project a leg up.

“We’re totally thinking Kickstarter. It just makes so much sense and solves so many problems. I think what Brian [Fargo] is doing with Wasteland is very interesting,” he said, referring to the successfully funded sequel to a 1989 PC RPG.